Takahashi River Shijuku is a program that aims to achieve the SDGs in the Takahashi River Basin and develop people who can play a central role in community activities.
From June to September 2021, Takahashi River Shijuku, 2nd Term was held, with around 30 lectures given by instructors active in the Takahashi River Basin.
On Sunday, September 19, 2021, Noritake Kanzaki, principal of Takahashi River Basin School and a folklorist, took the stage.
Here is a report on the lecture.
The information presented here was accurate when this article was published in October 2021. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Overview of Takahashi River Shijuku
Takahashi River Shijuku is a program run by the Takahashi River Basin School, a general incorporated association, as a project commissioned by Kurashiki City. Through the history, culture, industries, and fieldwork of the Takahashi River Basin, it aims to foster community development, nurture people who will support a sustainable region, and encourage action.
There are two courses:
- The “SDGs Exploration Course,” which includes practical exercises and presentations
- The “Auditor Course,” in which participants attend selected lectures as classroom study
The first term of Takahashi River Shijuku was held from November 2020 to February 2021, and the second term began in June 2021.
The opening ceremony was held on Sunday, June 27, 2021, and around 30 lectures were offered before the completion ceremony on Sunday, September 26, 2021.
The lectures covered five categories:
| Category | Content |
|---|---|
| SDGs Vision | Lectures where participants can hear from active practitioners about the Takahashi River Basin’s 2030 vision and current initiatives |
| General Education | Lectures to gain knowledge of the history, culture, industries, and other aspects of the Takahashi River Basin |
| Skills | Lectures to acquire the skills and know-how needed to carry out activities in the region, including presentations, effective use of IT tools, and use of blogs and social media |
| Local SDGs Mission | A workshop to reinterpret the 17 SDGs in the context of the Takahashi River Basin and set goals |
| Fieldwork | Experiential learning about community revitalization in the Takahashi River Basin |
The first term had three categories: SDGs Vision, General Education, and Skills. Starting with the second term, Local SDGs Mission and Fieldwork were added.
For more details, visit the special page for “Takahashi River Shijuku.”
Characteristics and sustainability of the Takahashi River Basin
This lecture was held online and streamed from Sumiyoshicho no Ie Bunbuku.
In addition to students in the second term of Takahashi River Shijuku, several graduates of the first term also attended.
During the lecture, participants also exchanged their knowledge and ideas using the chat function.
The Bitchu region and its three major rivers
When did the regional division known as Bitchu first come into being?
Its origins date back to the Nara period.
Bitchu Province was established when the Taiho Code was enacted, and even today, in 2021, the regional designation “Bitchu” is still used, more than 1,300 years later.
A river consists not only of a main stream but also many tributaries.
Among them, the Takahashi River is unusual in Japan in that its tributaries, including the Nariwa and Oda rivers, spread across the entire Bitchu region.
Professor Kanzaki discussed the characteristics of the Takahashi River based on the basin areas, lengths, and numbers of tributaries of Okayama Prefecture’s three major rivers.
| Basin area | Total length | Number of tributaries | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takahashi River | Approx. 260,000 km² | 117 km | 84 |
| Asahi River | Approx. 200,000 km² | 150 km | 132 |
| Yoshii River | Approx. 200,000 km² | 137 km | 137 |
The Takahashi River is shorter and has fewer tributaries than the other two rivers, but it has the largest basin area.
A large river basin provides water for daily life, making it easier for people to live there.
In mountainous areas, people must obtain the water they need by drawing it directly from rocky mountains and streams, or by digging wells to pump up groundwater.
However, because the Bitchu region has the Takahashi River and its tributaries, its water supply is less likely to run dry, making it easier to sustain a livelihood than in other regions.
People’s lives are sustained by water flowing into rivers, and the water flowing into the Takahashi River supports our lives, Kanzaki said.
River water is also sometimes used to transport goods, not just as drinking water.
In the Bitchu region, connections between the mountains, rivers, and sea have been established since ancient times.
In the Bitchu region, goods rarely travel inland from the sea. In terms of local products, more are shipped out than brought in from other places.
This shows that life within the region is stable and prosperous.
Iron
Before the Edo period, Izumo was a famous iron-producing region, but iron was also produced in Bitchu.
While iron in Izumo was produced using tatara ironmaking, traces have been found in Bitchu of kanna-nagashi, a process that preceded it.
Documents from the Heian period capital region also contain the terms “Bitchu swords” and “azo hoes.” The iron used for the blades and hoe heads was produced in Bitchu.
Many channels for kanna-nagashi were dug in Bitchu. Since these channels were man-made, they widened downstream, and over hundreds of years gradually formed fan-shaped landforms.
The fan-shaped landforms are particularly prominent in the Niimi and Chiya areas.
Because residential areas have since been built there, large-scale archaeological excavations are difficult. It is not known whether there was an “iron road” for kanna-nagashi, or whether rivers were part of that route.
In any case, since ironmaking was not easy in ancient times, the fact that it appears in historical documents confirms that Bitchu swords existed in an era earlier than Bizen swords.
Cattle
The best-known cattle in the Bitchu region are Chiyagyu Beef from Niimi City.
Chiyagyu Beef is the oldest beef cattle breed in Japan. From the end of the Edo period through the Meiji period, when people began eating beef, cattle were shipped to Edo and the Kansai region.
From the Edo period through the Meiji period, cattle apparently had greater commercial value and were more efficient to produce than iron goods.
Today, cattle are strongly associated with food, but in western Japan up until the Edo period, they were prized as labor for carrying loads and plowing fields.
In the Chugoku region, young cattle worked in the mountains. As they grew older, they gradually worked farther down the mountains, while older cattle worked in the plains.
Fields in the mountains were terraced, with many level changes, and the soil was hard, so plowing required considerable effort.
For this reason, young cattle, which were stronger and able to work hard, were put to work in the mountains.
Cattle that first worked in Chiya were sold at the Chiya market as they grew older, then went on to work on the Kibi Plateau.
As they aged further, the cattle were sold at the Takahashi market and then brought down to the plains.
Records from the Edo period show that in old-established Chiya households, the way of earning money shifted from ironmaking and kanna-nagashi to raising and shipping cattle.
Farmers borrowed cattle from bakuro, brokers at cattle markets, and used them as farm labor while raising them.
Kanzaki said that when he was a child, cattle were kept everywhere, and the animals were replaced every few years.
Sake
There are many sake breweries in the Bitchu region, from Tamashima to Kamogata.
During the Edo period, sake produced in Bitchu was transported to Nada, and apparently 97 percent of Nada’s sake was shipped to Edo.
Edo had many young men, and by the mid-Edo period there were around 1.8 million drinkers. This meant that each person consumed the equivalent of 40 one-sho bottles of sake.
Most of it was produced in Nada and was popular with young men in Edo as “kudari-zake,” sake shipped down from Nada to Edo.
At the time, sake was transported in barrels, and the ships that carried the barrels to Edo were called taru-kaisen.
Kanzaki said that Nada sake was known as “kudari-zake” because of its good taste, while sake made around the Kanto region was not very good and was called “kudaranai sake.” One theory is that this is the origin of the word “kudaranai,” meaning “worthless,” still used today.
The sake from Nada, considered to be delicious, also included sake produced in Bitchu and transported to Nada.
It was striking to hear that Bitchu sake had quietly increased its market share without becoming well known by name, like Nada sake.
Tributaries of the Takahashi River
Among the Takahashi River’s tributaries, the Nariwa and Oda rivers are particularly large.
Kanzaki said that they are many times larger than the tributaries of the Asahi and Yoshii rivers, which are also in Okayama Prefecture, and played a major role in the Bitchu region.
The Nariwa River was particularly important for transportation.
Before railways were built, rivers connected the mountains and the sea. The Nariwa River was used to transport charcoal, bengara, and Bitchu tobacco produced around Takahashi City to areas downstream along the Takahashi River.
The Nariwa River also has many waterwheels because it has no steep gorges and its current is gentle.
Waterwheels provided a reliable source of mechanical power and were used to mill brown rice into white rice.
In the Bitchu dialect, threshing is called “fumu kome” (“treading rice”), which apparently comes from the use of waterwheels.
Kanzaki said that rivers allow us to trace how people and goods have been connected since ancient times.
Many goods moved around the Bitchu region, and in response, people developed religious practices praying for prosperous business and abundant harvests. Events such as rice-planting festivals, autumn festivals, and mountain visits were held, and shrines and temples were built.
During the lecture, we heard about the many shrines in Takahashi City that enshrine Ebisu.
Ebisu is a deity worshipped by maritime people who fish at sea.
It seemed strange that shrines dedicated to a deity worshipped by maritime people could be found in Takahashi City, far from the sea. But learning that they were built to pray for good sales of fish caught at sea in Takahashi City gave me a sense of the merchants’ hopes at the time.
The future of the Takahashi River Basin
Mr. Kanzaki says that the Nariwa River, Oda River, and Takahashi River have been exceptionally stable rivers throughout history.
For this reason, rivers have long been used as routes connecting the mountains and the sea.
Historically, the rivers of Bitchu have seen few disasters. However, because they remained stable for so long, people became complacent about disaster risks, and major floods have occurred in the past.
The Yamano River in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, is the source of the Oda River, which flows into the Takahashi River.
A river basin is much wider and larger in scale than we imagine.
We must take another look at the scale of rivers and the angles of their flows, and understand where disaster risks may lie.
What will become of the Takahashi River Basin in the future, and what do we hope it will become?
Thinking about that is the mission entrusted to us.
From the Writer
Folklore is the academic study of the history of ordinary people’s lives and culture, conducted through research into customs and beliefs passed down among the people.
In past lectures at Takahashi River Shijuku, I felt that many focused on learning about and considering the present and future of the Takahashi River Basin. Learning about the history of the people who lived in the basin made me feel that my understanding had deepened.
It was a lecture that gave me a deeper understanding of the region’s culture and history—things inseparable from considering the future of the Takahashi River Basin and the Bitchu region.
Takahashi River Shijuku, 2nd Term Information
| Name | Takahashi River Shijuku, 2nd Term |
|---|---|
| Dates | Duration of the 2nd term of Takahashi River Shijuku: June 27, 2021–September 26, 2021 |
| Location | 2-13-3 Chuo, Kurashiki City |
| Participation Fee (tax included) | For details, see the Takahashi River Shijuku website. 1. SDGs Exploration Course participants General: 12,000 yen; students: 8,000 yen (includes in-person participation in all programs on the day and access to archived recordings) ※The fee is the same for in-person and online participation. 2. Auditors (classroom lectures only) In-person: 1,500 yen/session (limited capacity); online and archived recordings: 500 yen/session ※A page accessible only to participants will be provided at a later date. ※Depending on the lecture, actual expenses may be charged separately. ※Some lectures may be open to the public free of charge. |
| Website | Takahashi River Shijuku | Takahashi River Basin School |
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